Let me offer you a word or two of advice. If you want to formally pitch something to me as an investor, a director, an executive or indeed in almost any capacity, send me some information to read before we meet. Send me a pithy pre-meeting email, document, brochure, proposal outline, webpage link; something which gives me the gist of what you are presenting or proposing. Then I’ll have had time to study it, think about it, perhaps do some background research myself, so that when we do meet, we’ll be able to focus your time and mine on clarification, criticism, suggestion, discussion and, above all, decision. You’d be amazed how often we can save us both time, by quickly saying “Go ahead “or “No, thank you”.
Ask most CEOs and board members, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Senior executives and board directors are usually fast readers and quick decision makers. It’s part of how we got there. So we get very irritated by people who want us to sit through long-winded presentations and discussions on topics where they won’t give us the key information until the meeting. Especially when the “big reveal” is neither big nor revealing.
Some helpful links:
Ask most CEOs and board members, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Senior executives and board directors are usually fast readers and quick decision makers. It’s part of how we got there. So we get very irritated by people who want us to sit through long-winded presentations and discussions on topics where they won’t give us the key information until the meeting. Especially when the “big reveal” is neither big nor revealing.
Some helpful links:
- Barabara Minto’s “The Pyramid Principle:Logic in Writing and Thinking” - required reading for anyone constructing business communications.
- Patrick Riley’s “The One-Page Proposal: How to Get Your Business Pitch Onto One Persuasive Page" .